One Step At A Time
by AuroraBlix
Summary: Final Fantasy X-2 AU: Carolina's garment grid has been stolen and the thief is using her identity to throw a music concert in Luca. She, her old friend Lee, and her new friend Kimball are going to take it back.


**A/N: For the Iz RvB Challenge by goodluckdetective on Tumblr.**

 **I wrote it yesterday, all in one sitting, while under the influence of three cups of coffee and a lot of panic (because I had originally planned to write a Skyrim AU, but that didn't really pan out). I've only done a few minor, necessary edits since yesterday, but hopefully I haven't missed any typos or weird tense-switches.**

 **Honestly, this isn't very good, just something that occurred to me that I actually wrote down. I might come back to it later to clean it up and add to it; I might not. I might add to this 'verse later; I might not.**

 **This fic features Carolina as High Summoner Yuna, Pilot Four-Seven-Niner (whom I have named Lee) as Rikku, and Vanessa Kimball as Paine. Guest-starring: Girly Insurrectionist as Leblanc, Robo-Arm Insurrectionist as Logos, and Douchebag Insurrectionist Who Shot Maine (May He Rest In Pieces) as Ormi. With a cameo by Michael J. Caboose as Brother.**

* * *

The thousand screaming concert fans could be heard echoing down the dark hallway as Vanessa saluted her partner and jogged away. Lee gave a nod in response and continued dragging the incapacitated guard into an out-of-the-way corner.

"C… L… V, in position," she murmured into the comm on her shoulder when she was done, heading in the opposite direction and climbing the stairs until she reached a private balcony. She smirked in anticipation as the opening riff of the concert sounded. "It's show-time, girls."

Elsewhere in the dome, Vanessa watched impassively as the concert began, floating spotlights honing in on the center stage and one-person platforms holding the musicians circling high above. The lights cut out and the crowd around Vanessa chanted a countdown, until the lights lit up a familiar figure on the circle of bright blue light that was the stage.

Even as the first words of the pop-sounding song began, Vanessa remained baffled that the city of Luca thought Carolina would ever be so shameless and attention-seeking as to hold a musical concert. On the other hand, she could admit that the change from the two-year-old image of the redhead into the dark blue outfit of the Songstress dressphere was masterfully done, and the song sounded as if it would be catchy.

The two women observed from opposite ends of the dome, watching the redhead onstage as she sang and danced surprisingly well, Lee taking advantage of the camera-function in her binoculars to snap a few images. Perhaps when the whole ordeal was over, she and her brother could convince Carolina that having a little fun wouldn't bring about the end of the world. Especially since it'd been two years since she'd stopped that very thing from happening.

A gruff-sounding "Hey" could be heard behind Lee just as the tip of a baton rapped her on the shoulder. Lowering the binoculars, she turned to see a stern, unimpressed-looking guard glaring at her. Lee tried giving an innocent "who, me?" smile but it obviously didn't go over well since he lunged just as the song's chorus began.

She easily batted his baton away and retaliated with an elbow to the throat before sending him to the floor with a well-aimed kick. That dealt with, she returned to watching the concert until it was time to act. The woman onstage really was a consummate performer, her song and dance well-choreographed, and she treated the audience with a kind of cheekiness that Carolina rarely displayed.

On the other side on the dome, another security guard rushed up the stairs toward Vanessa. Wary of pulling out her greatsword around so many people, she instead jumped and spun in midair, whipping first the toe of one boot and then the heel of the other into the side of the guard's head and sending him crashing into the handrail of the stairs. Pleased, she used the guard's unconscious body as a step-stool to perch lightly on the rail and slid down to the bottom of the stairs.

Smoothly hopping off, Vanessa reached the guardrail at the bottom just as a whooping Lee flew down to meet her, having liberated a winged hovercraft from one of the guitar-players during the altercation. The two women balanced precariously on the small craft as it shot towards the center stage just as the song ended. They leapt down onto the stage and the two holographic backup dancers behind the redhead disappeared as their feet touched the bright blue circle of light.

"Alright, you've had your fun," Lee drawled over the sound of the still-cheering crowd. "Now give it back."

Instead of acquiescing, the woman harrumphed and yelled "Boys!" in a haughty voice that sounded nothing at all like Carolina. Two masked men teleported onstage, flanking the still-dancing woman, who continued, "Want in on this number? Then show me your moves!"

"Think you can keep up," Vanessa challenged, pulling out her greatsword and brandishing it at the trio while Lee readied her two long-bladed daggers. Together, they attacked and quickly took down the green-clad goons—Vanessa with powerful swings while Lee danced between them, reaching into the pockets of each before striking twice in quick succession, once at the neck and then at the abdomen.

After the men were dealt with, they went after the redhead, who retaliated with thunder-magic but fell almost as easily as the other two. "I could have danced all night," Vanessa declared in a rare moment of humor, easily swinging her blade around as their opponent stumbled back.

Shaking her head to clear it, the red-haired woman held her arms out and called to the crowd, her voice taking on a grating quality, "Sooooorry! No time for an encore!"

Lee and Vanessa exchanged glances before rushing forward, just as the Carolina look-alike teleported out of the concert dome, taking all three women to its entrance. Their opponent recovered first, booking down the stairs and out into the open with the other two women hot on her heels. As they reached the bottom of the stairs by the admissions office, Lee growled out a frustrated, "Get back here!" before continuing to follow.

They sprinted down the walkway that circled the dome, passing a couple piers and only stopping in order to deal with any additional goons that challenged them. Lee's breathing started to come out in harsh pants while Vanessa seemed to be as unruffled as usual. After pursuing their quarry halfway around the dome, the two women lost sight of her.

"Ugh, you run too fast!" Lee complained as they came to a stop in front of one of the piers. Vanessa privately agreed, but didn't see the point in shouting it at the person they were chasing. From behind them came the oily reply of "You're too slow, little girl," which raised Lee's hackles faster than almost anything else. The last person to call her "girl" had ended up beaten and penniless in an alley, fuck you very much.

She and Vanessa whirled around to see a slender man with a robotic arm approaching, a long-barreled pistol in each hand. "Show's over!" came a second, deeper voice, and Lee spun again to see a much larger, much bulkier man approaching from the other side, laughing as if he'd made the cleverest joke. Lee couldn't hold back a wince and muttered, "Yeowch," at the grating sound.

Vanessa, recognizing the folly of defending from two sides, tugged at Lee's arm with a muttered "This way!" and ran down to the end of the empty pier. A few seconds later, they turned about to face their new opponents just in time to see Carolina, in her usual white shirt and light blue half-skirt, empty the clips of both of her pistols at the feet of the two men. Lee smirked as they "danced" comedically to avoid the bullets.

Lee and Vanessa exchanged smug looks at this turn of events, and watched as Carolina charged, using the shoulder of the big guy as a jumping point, then turning in midair to release another volley at them. She landed neatly, crouched on one leg with the other extended to the side for balance, both guns pointed straight at the men. The other two women quickly flanked her and Team CLV was back together, ready to kick ass.

"Where's the imposter?" Carolina demanded. Rather than answer, the men attacked.

As usual, the three women all focused on one opponent and then the other: Vanessa attacking with her sword, then Carolina firing a shot or two when the smaller man was distracted, and lastly Lee darting in with her daggers. It was short work to deal with them, barring when they had to either dodge sloppy attacks from the big guy or recover when he managed to slam one of them with his entire weight behind a large, circular shield. Predictably dramatic, the smaller one shouted a drawn-out, "It. Cannot. Be!" when the three women put him on the ground; the larger man, on the other hand, wailed out a fearful and defeated "Boss!" when it was his turn.

Carolina exchanged satisfied looks with Lee and Vanessa as the two backed away, then watched attentively as the Carolina look-alike approached from behind them.

"That's _quite… enough… sniveling_ , boys," she snarled, twisting Carolina's face into an ugly mask of disdain. Robo-Arm and Big Guy rushed over to flank her from behind as she surveyed the real Carolina and a hand on her hip. "Persistent, aren't you?" she sneered after a moment, holding up a hand as if to say what a confounding inconvenience the events of the day had been for her.

Carolina's eyes narrowed in a dangerous glare and held out an expectant hand. "My grid," she snapped again, eyes locked with her imposter.

"Yep, hand over Care's garment grid, sweet-cheeks!" Lee chimed in, annoyed at how long the whole ordeal had taken.

The imposter shifted her weight, popping out a hip to appear even more spoiled and irritating. "Didn't you girls ever learn to share?" she lamented, rolling her eyes.

 _"Give it back,"_ Carolina repeated, taking a step forward and leveling one of her pistols right between the other woman's matching green eyes.

After a split-second's hesitation, the other woman huffed and said, unconcernedly, "Very well, it's yours." Looking off into the distance, she tossed it high into the air. Carolina and Lee gasped, following its path with their eyes so as not to let it fall and break, while Vanessa kept her eyes on the imposter as she pulled out a large, heart-decorated fan to cover her face as Carolina's visage was dispelled.

In its place appeared a blonde woman with layered, shoulder-length hair, a pointed face, and a dark pink dress with a heart-motif and neckline down to her navel. "But it won't be yours for long!" she declared, taking the opportunity to attack, her two henchmen hanging back, still smarting from their last defeat.

The fight took longer than it could have, Carolina having caught the grid and activated it for safe-keeping—her guns and usual clothes disappearing in a flash to be replaced with the dark blue number of the Songstress dressphere—and unable to do more to help the fight than repeatedly inflict Darkness on their adversary. Blondie was apparently hardier than her men as well, but kept pausing in her thunder-based attacks to remove what Carolina cast and heal herself, which prolonged the fight. With very little real effort, though, she fell once again beneath Vanessa's and Lee's onslaught.

Stumbling back with a sound of combined frustration, Blondie turned and ran back toward Big Guy and Robo-Arm. "I—I won't let you off so easily next time," she shouted desperately over her shoulder, before sprinting away with her men. Lee shouted for them to come back and Vanessa prepared to follow, before the sound of a confused "Wha—?" met their ears.

Turning, they found Carolina in her short skirt, asymmetrical top, and ruffled sleeves unable to stop dancing. Baffled but reluctantly enjoying herself, she twirled and bopped around, laughing in begrudging enjoyment while the other two watched amusedly. The bout of forced dancing subsided after a few moments; the foreign excitement that had overwhelmed her during it melting away when she managed to deactivate the dressphere.

"Well, that was interesting," Vanessa remarked dryly after a moment of quiet breathing, and Lee snorted. "Are we going after the thieves?"

Carolina thought it over for a moment, before shaking her head. It wasn't worth it—they had only managed to swipe her grid through chance, after all. Besides, she'd had a full day while waiting for her partners to crash the concert, and just wanted to rest after the fight and subsequent body-hijacking by her sphere. "Let's go home," she said. Vanessa gave a sharp nod, while Lee activated her comm and called her brother for a pick-up.

It'd been a long day, and hopefully things would calm down after all that had happened. It _was_ supposed to be the Eternal Calm, after all…

 _"Hi!"_ A loud voice yelled over the comm. _"Is everyone okay? Did you catch the mean people who stole Carie's pretty dress?"_

Then again, maybe not.


End file.
